Lyrics to
The Carter Family

This version of The Carter Family was released by Carly Simon in 1972.

Our About Carly Simon page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Carter Family from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from Carly Simon that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Carly Simon or about the 1970s in general.

The Carter family lived next door for almost 14 years
With Gwen and I inseparable from rag dolls through brassieres
Then Gwen began to bore me with her giggles and her fears
The day the Carters moved away, I had to fake my tears
I told new friends Gwen Carter had become a silly pest
And then I found I missed her more than I’d ever have guessed

Grandma used to nag at me to straighten up my spine
To act respectful and read good books
To take care of what was mine
I hated being criticized and asking her permission
So what if her advise was wise, It always hurt to listen
I didn’t cry when Granny died, she made me so depressed
And then I found I missed her more than I’d ever have guessed

You used to make me moan in bed, but that can’t be enough
My friends complained your jokes were crude,
Your manners were too rough
Don’t know just what I wanted, but I know I wanted more
Someone smooth, presentable, to blend with my decor
And now at night I think of how you grinned when you undressed
And I find I miss you more than I’d ever have guessed.

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Carly Simon has released many songs over the years besides The Carter Family. Carly Simon released songs from 1971 to 2008 spanning across albums like Carly Simon, Anticipation, No Secrets, Hotcakes, Playing Possum, Another Passenger, Boys In The Trees, Spy, Come Upstairs, Torch, Hello Big Man, Spoiled Girl, Coming Around Again, Working Girl, Have You Seen Me Lately, My Romance, This Is My Life, Letters Never Sent, Film Noir, The Bedroom Tapes, Piglet's Big Movie, Christmas Is Almost Here Again, Moonlight Serenade, Into White, and This Kind Of Love. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Carly Simon.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1972 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Carter Family by Carly Simon

The lyrics for The Carter Family are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1972 song by Carly Simon. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to The Carter Family have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for The Carter Family - Carly Simon and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to The Carter Family by Carly Simon in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Carter Family" means the words set to the music of The Carter Family, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Carly Simon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Carter Family and the lyrics to The Carter Family are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Carly Simon who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Carter Family, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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